DYLAN Thompson finished three runs short of a century as Horsham started its under-15 country week carnival off on the right foot on the opening day.
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The side easily accounted for West Wimmera Cricket Association to the tune of 144 runs.
Coach Brett Thompson said disciplined bowling, good fielding and a big opening partnership set the game up.
“The bowlers kept it nice and full as well as straight,” he said. “We then fielded exceptionally – there wasn’t a single catch dropped and everyone backed up the bowlers really well.
“That certainly made it a lot easier when it came to batting.”
West Wimmera won the toss and decided to bat first on the synthetic wicket at Dudley Cornell after the game was moved from the turf at Sunnyside.
Blake Turner and Baxter Perry made scoring difficult for the batting side early before Codi Kenny and Bailey Young cashed in with multiple wickets.
Kenny finished with 4-9 off 5.4 overs while Young nabbed 3-10 of his five overs.
Young then carried his good form with the ball into Horsham’s innings as the side looked to chase down a target of 101 in 45 overs.
He and Jacob Casey put on 85 for the first wicket before Casey was dismissed for 18.
Young followed shortly after for 55 and the side was 3-91 when Cooper Tyler was removed for a duck by Tom Harris.
It was left to Thompson and Aiden Laffy to guide the side to victory.
The pair combined for a 76-run fourth-wicket partnership as Thompson started to dominate the West Wimmera attack.
He was on 93 at the start of the final over but could only manage a pair of twos to finish unbeaten on 97.
His side finished 6-244 and will look to carry its momentum on against Portland on Tuesday.
“It’s been a couple of years since we’ve won a game at country week,” coach Thompson said.
“So it’s really good to get the win a the board on day one and we’re really looking forward to the rest of the week.”
